The record
Three Hinterlandmauer elements lent by the Berlin Wall Foundation to the memorial at the prison where the Securitate tried to torture prisoners into new men.
Between 1949 and 1952 the Romanian security service ran what became known as the Pitești experiment: an attempt to re-educate political prisoners into communist new men through torture and humiliation, in which more than a thousand people were killed. It took its name from the prison in Pitești, in southern Romania, which stayed in use until 1977. The private Pitești Prison Memorial opened on the site in 2014, with a permanent exhibition on the communist dictatorship in Romania that concentrates on the systematic physical and psychological methods used here.
In December 2019, for the thirtieth anniversary of the end of the dictatorship, the Berlin Wall Foundation placed three elements of the Hinterlandmauer — the inner wall, the one that faced the prisoners of the border rather than the cameras — with the memorial as a permanent loan. They have been part of the outdoor exhibition since. A panel beside them explains the history of the Wall in Romanian and English.
The arrangement is worth distinguishing from most of this catalogue. These elements were not sold in 1990, nor given as a diplomatic present. They were lent, by the German state institution that holds and interprets the Wall at Bernauer Straße, to a memorial that documents a different dictatorship — and they can be recalled. It is a third mode of dispersal, later and more deliberate than the other two.
The Romanian press reported the placing of the loan on 10 December 2019; both Adevărul and the agency Agerpres speak of a single fragment, where the Foundation counts three elements.
How did it get here?
A permanent loan from the Berlin Wall Foundation in December 2019, for the thirtieth anniversary of the end of communist rule in Romania.
Sources
Listed by the Federal Foundation as #148.
Federal Foundation — Berlin Wall worldwide, site entry ↗
The Pitești experiment and its death toll, the prison's use until 1977, the opening of the private memorial in 2014 and its permanent exhibition, the loan of three Hinterlandmauer elements by the Berlin Wall Foundation in December 2019, their place in the outdoor exhibition, and the bilingual panel.
Inventory listingSource accessed 2026-09-17
Despre Fenomenul Piteşti, 70 de ani mai târziu. Un fragment din Zidul Berlinului, va fi plasat în curtea Memorialului Închisoarea Piteşti ↗
Adevărul's report of 10 December 2019: on the evening of that day, marking seventy years since the start of the Pitești experiment and thirty since the fall of communism, a fragment of the Berlin Wall was placed in the memorial's courtyard as part of its permanent open-air exhibition, with guests from the Berlin Wall Memorial present.
Press reportSource accessed 2026-09-17
Preşedintele AFDPR despre Fenomenul Piteşti: Cele mai oribile lucruri din lumea comunistă europeană ↗
Agerpres's report of 10 December 2019 on the commemoration, recording that a fragment of the Berlin Wall, a witness to the fall of communism in Europe, was placed in the courtyard of the Pitești Prison Memorial.
Press reportSource accessed 2026-09-17
Federal Foundation — Berlin Wall worldwide ↗
The source lists this place as a Berlin Wall location. Coordinates, where supplied, are source-reported and may represent a general area. This is not independent verification of authenticity, current presence, or public access.
Inventory listingSource accessed 2026-09-17 · Source record 148
No photograph of this one has been published. If you have taken one, or know when it arrived or who gave it, we would like to hear. Contribute to this record